Cubs championship run cost Chicago nearly $20M in expenses
Winning is definitely expensive, but the cost of success was put in a new perspective on Friday when the city of Chicago revealed how much it paid to keep the city safe, clean and functional during the Cubs run to the World Series last fall.
According to the Chicago Tribune, expenses that covered overtime for cops, dispatchers and city cleanup crews related to all three playoff series, came in at $19.3M. That’s an enormous figure, though it might be skewed to some degree given the first-in-a-lifetime frenzy created by the Cubs first World Series trip since 1945 and first championship since 1908.
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With that in mind, the city is still totaling how much revenue the Cubs run created through extra hotel, sales and amusement taxes. It’s possible that will end up offsetting a good chunk of the expenses.
The report notes that the majority of the expenses were spent on heightened security, and that local taxpayers will be on the hook for a little less than 10 percent of the money needed to pay the bills.
Most of the extra cost was for police overtime, which totaled $14.7 million for the World Series, $2.2 million for the epic Nov. 4 celebration parade and rally and about $263,000 for the two earlier playoff series. For the World Series alone, city police officers logged about 285,133 hours of OT.
Taxpayers also shelled out an extra $840,000 or so to pay overtime to dispatchers, crossing guards and others for the World Series, and about $743,000 for cleanup crews, the placement of barricades and other services, city officials said.
Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts is on record stating the team’s postseason run brought in $6.7M in ticket taxes, which covers Wrigley Field and rooftop seats across the street from the ballpark. The Cubs have yet to comment on the city’s expense report, or whether it will cover any additional expenses.
The precedents set here will be important to remember. With the Cubs expected to be elite contenders for several years to come, the expenses generated and how they are covered could become a yearly issue.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
